Alert archive / Wisconsin / Mesoscale Discussions in 2020

Mesoscale Discussion 1713

September 25, 2020Gogebic County, Houghton County, Ontonagon County, Michigan; 4 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Sep 25, 2020, 5:31 PM CDT for Gogebic County, Houghton County, Ontonagon County, Michigan; 4 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 119 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Sep 25, 2020, 5:31 PM CDT (22:31 UTC)
Expired
Sep 25, 2020, 7:30 PM CDT
In force
119 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning
Severe potential...watch possible
Chance of a watch
40%

Counties Gogebic County, MI, Houghton County, MI, Ontonagon County, MI, Ashland County, WI, Bayfield County, WI, Iron County, WI, Sawyer County, WI

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:31 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 281 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2020-09-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2020-09-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 14 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1130 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
6 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

099 
ACUS11 KWNS 252231
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 252231 
MIZ000-WIZ000-260030-

Mesoscale Discussion 1713
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
0531 PM CDT Fri Sep 25 2020

Areas affected...Western Upper Michigan/Wisconsin border vicinity

Concerning...Severe potential...Watch possible 

Valid 252231Z - 260030Z

Probability of Watch Issuance...40 percent

SUMMARY...Increasing thunderstorm development, including the
evolution of one or two supercells, appears possible near or just
west of the Ironwood MI area by 6-7 PM CDT.  This may include
potential for a tornado or two, in addition to large hail, if
stronger storm development is maintained along or just south of the
surface frontal zone.  Some uncertainty lingers, but trends are
being monitored for the possibility of a severe weather watch.

DISCUSSION...Latest model output remains suggestive that large-scale
forcing for ascent, associated with lower/mid tropospheric warm
advection, may contribute to increasing thunderstorm development in
the vicinity of a stalled frontal zone near the southern Lake
Superior shore during the next few hours.  It appears that this may
be aided by a focused area of strengthening divergence aloft, ahead
of an approaching low amplitude short wave trough, perhaps
associated with a coupling of 50-60 kt westerly 500 mb speed maxima.

Coinciding with the northeastward migration of a surface low across
the Hayward WI area. toward the Ironwood MI vicinity, a
southwesterly 850 mb jet is forecast to strengthen from 30-40 kt.
contributing to sizable clockwise-curved low-level hodographs within
the warm sector of the low.  Beneath the nose of an
east-northeastward advecting plume of warm, elevated mixed-layer
air, and relatively cool mid/upper-levels, modest boundary-layer dew
points in the lower 60s appear to be contributing to mixed-layer
CAPE on the order of 1000-1500 J/kg.

Near the vicinity of the surface frontal zone, the environment may
become conducive to the evolution of one or two supercells, capable
of producing large hail and posing potential to produce a tornado,
before activity possibly consolidates into an organizing cluster
later this evening.

..Kerr/Hart.. 09/25/2020

...Please see www.spc.noaa.gov for graphic product...

ATTN...WFO...MQT...GRB...DLH...

LAT...LON   46539171 47388828 46228887 45889056 45849159 46539171

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 25, 6:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCGogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw, Ontonagon4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Wisconsin, 2020Mesoscale Discussions in Michigan, 2020Every mesoscale discussion in 2020

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.